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On the subject of kids...

Do any of you have kids or know kids who absolutly love Star Wars? I ask this because many of the kids that I know could really care less about Star Wars. I mean, most have seen the movies, but are more interested in cartoons or video games or WRESTLING (cringe). Luckily, my girlfriend's son LOVES the movies and the toys. He was even jealous when she picked up a Boomer Damaged Battle Droid for me, so she ended up getting him one two. He loves to check out and play with my collection. But I think this is in the minority. With so many big event movies, aggressively marketed toys, hours and hours of cartoons on every day, and so on, I think to most kids Star Wars movies are just another series these days. Not as special as they were to, say, me for example. What do you think? How do the kids you know like the movies? And why is WRESTLING so freakin' popular?

I gave my 3-year-old niece the trilogy on video last x-mas, and for a while, it sat collecting dust, but then she was bored and watched one... then the next... then the next... and she's watched ROTJ like every single day since! I gave her one of my Gamorrean guard figures (minus axe) and a Qui-Gon lightsaber which she recently informed me needs new batteries. It's been great watching her eyes light up when we talk about Star Wars, about which characters are mean and which are nice and other stuff.

As for wrestling, it's pure violence and flash, when I was a teenager, I thought it was too much fun. It's like a soap-opera, running storylines, good guys and bad guys (though it's becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between those lately) and most importantly for the toys, requires NO imagination to play with, just aggression and noise.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

My ten year old nephew loves star wars and whenever I go round to his house to see my sister, he always asks if I have any new figures etc. If his mum would let him he would collect the trading cards obsessively.
He has the movies on tape which he watches regularly. In fact, now my other six year old nephew has started to get interested. Perhaps not to the same degree but he is a big sports fan first and foremost and likes the wrestling because it's rough and tumble and he can re-enact the wrestling bouts easier than he can lengthy scenes of dialogue he doesn't understand from episode one.

That's why kids don't get star wars, the dialogue is so dull. Or should I say that the episode one dialogue, which is all a lot of kids have been exposed to as far as star wars goes, is very dull. And has the exitement factor of a dead newt.
Maybe if Lucas wasn't so keen on inserting words even I have to look up then he would get more kids hooked.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to supplying my elder nephew with star wars goodies for quite some time in an effort to keep him from getting interested in wrestling like his younger brother.

in the old forums, there was a short lived post on parenting and star wars.....

in lieu of tracking it down, the below is what i posted to that thread;

i have been enjoying star wars with my son since he was about 2. (he's now 7) the 1st introduction was an a-wing action fleet toy, that he took to heart, cherished, and was his favorite above and beyond any other toy. he began watching the movies with me when he was three, and loved them from the start. his collection of action fleet toys kept growing and growing (he never liked to play with the potf stuff, cause they were too big), and to both my wifes and my amazement, these were the toys that he took care of, put away safely, and always loved playing with all the time. he still has everyone, which he has kept in pristine condition(except for the a-wing pilot from the very 1st toy, he somehow lost that one, but jedi tricks came to the rescue and sent me a replacement), rmember, we're talking about a lot of toys which get daily play abuse for 5 years now. anyway, his love for stra wars was so great, that he began to look at the essential guides, and became a great reader by the time he was 4, all from reading star wars books. by 5 years old he had read the original trilogy novels, and the npr radio dramitazation scripts. when anyone asks him what he wants to be when he grows up, he always replies, an areonautical engineer, so that he can design and fly x-wings!, last year when he was 6, he read the timothy zahn heir to the empire trilogy, and is now into the rogue squadron books.

his reading ability is on a 10th grade level, his love for astronomy and math, as well as his creativity and imagination, i attribute in a great part to the star wars universe!

star wars is a wonderful world of mythology and imagination, which kids can relate to. but more importantly, it's a world that can be explored and shared by you and your children together. i have never used star wars as a pysudo baby sitter, i watch the movies, play the computer games, and take part in the daily battles being waged in my sons room with the toys. we discuss the books that are read, and enjoy reading the star wars insider together.

the funny thing about all of this, when sw 1st came out in 1977, i was 17 at the time, had no interest in the movie, and even after i was dragged to go see it, other than the opening sequence when the star destroyer flew over the top of the screen (that was cool!), really couldn't have cared less. my feelings remained the same in 1980 for esb (who cares that dv is lukes father....yawn), and didn't even see rotj until some time after 1983, on video no less. it wasn't until mason (my son) bonded with that action fleet a-wing, that i began to explore star wars. looking back on the past 6 years, the strength of my sons and my relationship is due in large part to the sw world that we have explored together.

I don't know ANY kids who have even a remote interest in Star Wars. I never se any kids interested in it either, not since shortly after the E1 phenomenon.

As far as wrestling goes, it is my favorite guilty pleasure. RIght up there with SW. I have been watching wrestling since the late 70's, and only had a brief hiatus in the "cheesy gimmick" years around the mid nineties. It's great stuff. All of the violence, cheesy dialogue, and drama I need. Actually, it's one of the few things on tv these days worth watching. Also, some of the new guys that are coming up now, are making the shows even better. SO I imagine I'll be watching wrestling with my grandkids one day, telling them how I remember watching Hogan vs. Andre, and Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes.

My boy who is now 11 is a big fan of star wars but he has seemed to fallen off and taking up with pokemon and GI Joe.But he still confesses to be a fan.Now my daughter who is 4 has gone crazy over Star Wars.Watches all the movies in a row if we let her"and whos to stop her",and she always wants to play with the figures and the ships.She's real careful with them and always puts them back when she's done.Now if I could get my son to do this I would be happy.As far as wrestling I love it,I love it, I love it."oops my wife came in,I hate it,I hate it, ....

I have two nephews (3 and 1.5) who absolutely love Star Wars. But it's almost a given, since my brother has surrounded them with Star Wars since they were born. My oldest nephew's first word was "JarJar" and he absolutely adores that Gungan. MY youngest nephew is more into the big ugly monsters like the Rancor. Whenever I go over to my brother's house my brother, my two nephews and I get into lightsaber duels with the big Hasbro lightsabers. Me and my brother spend most of the duel keeping my nephews from beating each other up too badly. Of course at this point they like it because it's something they have in common with my brother and I, time will only tell if their interest will last a lifetime like mine did.

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split. - Robert E. Howard

I too have 'corrupted' my son. Since I have little time to play with my collection, I buy extras for my 6-year old and live vicariously through him. I've bought him just about everything, including the AT-AT and queen's starship (only on sale, of course). I even have a goodie box filled with figures that he gets to pick from when he does odd jobs and helps me around the house as a reward.

It probably started when he was 2 or 3 and I took him to see the ROTJ:SE a few years back. He was a really wriggly kid, but for some reason sat quietly through the movie (I had to cover his eyes when the Rancor at the pig man so he wouldn't get nightmares).

I'm pretty proud of him because although he plays with the toys often, he's not in his room all day just playing with them. He's usually outside digging around in the dirt, riding his bike or rollerblading.

The other day he got all his stuff out to the garage and was playing with his friends. One of them was pretty snotty and was like "Why do you have all this stuff?" My son replied, "Because Star Wars is cool and is way better than Pokemon and other stuff." I did an internal high-five with myself. I think he's going to turn out OK.

"I'm just a YES man trying to make my way in the universe." - Jango McCallum

"Good dialogue and smooth editing are no match for a good YES man by your side, kid." - George Lucas

These are all great stories. It's good to know that there are still kids out there that are totally fascinated with Star Wars (even if they are in the minority). Hopefully they're playing with their toys and not investing in them. I think these movies will continue to inspire certain types of kids for years to come. And hopefully, I'll get to surprise my girlfriend's son and someday my own kids with cool toys based on the movies for a long time.

As far as wrestling, I think for me there's some latent homophobia or something...Something about big, muscular, mostly-naked guys getting in strange positions and getting all sweaty just creeps me out. I never liked He-Man either. Again, big almost-naked muscular men, although less physical contact. Even so, the wrestlers of my childhood seemed cooler than Steve Austin and crew. It all seems to be so built on Bad Additude and mindless violence and little else. Of course, being a conflicted human being I love movies like Reservoir Dogs and the like which are full of bad additude and violence, but those aren't marketed to kids. I do think it rules that Jesse Ventura is governor of Minnesota, though.